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Blackblade 09.0 - Mystery in the Mitsurhym
After Mr. Grey and Father Hammond took their leave, the three adventurers began to plan their journey south into the forbidding Mitsurhym badlands. Caelan took the day to hunt down a bison, hoping its meat would sustain the three of them for their trip, while the other two carefully considered their spells and other resources. The following day, they set out, carefully skirting around the outskirts of Stilwell. Stopping in a farmer's field, they harvested a supply of grain for Kirsikka, figuring that there would be little else for the large mare to eat. It took about three days of travel before the last of the most persistent grasses thinned out, and the trio was fully within the badlands. The ground was hard and dry, and the summer heat took its toll on the group. Weary and suffering from heatstroke, they pressed on, mercifully refreshed by Ragoom's blessed Create Water spell. On the first day, they found a large outcropping of rock affording some rather tempting shade; when they approached it, however, they found it already occupied by a falcon-headed sphinx. Affronted, the creature hissed and cawed at them, and, unwilling to fight over it in the heat, the group backed away from the rock. Later in the day, they thought they saw another man wandering in the desert. Calling to him seemed to have no effect, so they drew closer. As they neared, they realized that this was no normal person: a wasted, dried corpse, wearing ruined armour and dragging a rusted bastard sword, was moving of its own accord. Noticing them finally, the zombie turned and leveled its dead gaze upon Ragoom. Paralysis gripped the cleric as the undead shambled towards him. However, Ragoom quickly recovered, while Calean shot an arrow that lodged into the creature's shoulder to no real effect. The tired, overheated group determined that the best course of action involved averting their eyes and starting a brisk walking pace in the other direction. The undead creature could not keep pace and was quickly left behind. The night, at first a pleasant repose from the heat, quickly turned frigid. Ragoom laid an Endure Elements spell upon Caelan, who had been suffering the worst from the day's temperature, and vowed to prepare more castings of it on the following morn. Meanwhile, he, Raito and Kirsikka were left to shiver the night away under their owlbear pelt. As if the cold air was not enough, the night brought with it little rest. Another undead, different from the first for its lack of arrow, shambled towards their camp. Unwilling to break camp, the three men surrounded the zombie and felled it; its corpse held no clues to its providence, other than a black shard of a gem-like substance skewered deep into the base of its throat. Hoping to weather the night undisturbed, the group went back to sleep. However, it was not to be: a few hours later, Caelan spotted a large form flying above, which resolved itself into a sphinx. The leonine creature, smelling the large amount of meat being carried by Kirsikka, attacked the horse in an attempt to steal its burden. Waking quickly, the three men managed to drive the beast off before it could harm either the horse or their supplies. The rest of the night was spent in cold, uncomfortable peace. The second day, now protected against the heat and cold through divine magic, they continued their search into the desert. The land became rugged, with more outcroppings and rock formations giving character to the horizon. A third undead, similar to the first two, was spotted but evaded. Around noon, Caelan thought he saw a white figure atop a rock, but when he blinked it disappeared, leaving him confused and blaming the heat for visions. That night was equally uneventful, though during his watch, Ragoom also saw a white figure from a distance, though he could not discern what it could be. As the third day in the desert dragged on, all three men were surprised to catch sight of the white figure. Now at a much closer distance, it was obviously a man dressed in white robes. They chased after him when he tried to deek off a third time, and caught up to him in a crevasse between some large rocks. As he had taken the high ground by climbing up into the rock towards another exit, he stopped fleeing and instead turned to regard the adventurers. When they first tried to talk to him, he was silent; he held his hands, deep in his sleeves, in front of his covered face and began to fiddle around within them. Using Detect Magic, Raito determined that the man had somehow cast the spell Comprehend Languages upon himself, followed shortly by Tongues. What followed was a rather strained conversation: the man seemed rather unwilling to volunteer any sort of information, frustrating Raito. They eventually deduced that he would not say anything until they offered him some sort of relevant information first. The group noticed that the man had dark skin and eyes, similar to the man Yomiel that they had met before. At the mention of this name, the desert man acquiesced that he was, in fact, his brother, though he seemed particularly disinterested in hearing anything about him. Slowly, as Raito became more derogatory in manner, Caelan more desperate in making the conversation work, and Ragoom more liberal in his dispensation of information, the man's attitude began to soften, and he seemed to relax in regards to his customs. He revealed that he knew where the plague was coming from, but that his people had decided against doing anything about it, as it was not particularly affecting them. Contrary to the generally reluctant tone of the discourse, he agreed to take them to the source. As they walked the rest of the day and through the night, the man finally introduced himself as Sissel. On the following day, Sissel directed them towards a small cave between some rocks that lead down into the earth. Before they entered, he said that he would wait outside for them, as he had no particular desire to deal with the problem. However, he did want to know the outcome, so he offered to watch over Kirsikka while they were gone, and, with a rather enigmatic smile, said that he would give them something if they managed to deal with the problem and come back alive. Steeling themselves, the three men set down into the darkness. The tunnel they found themselves in was tight, dark and winding; Detect Magic gave Raito a searing headache, much as it had when he was near the demonic enchantment in the swamp labyrinth. As they descended, they began to hear a strange noise: a loud, incessant, chittering, squawking din. When they finally reached the bottom, they saw a dim light from around a corner. Sneaking forward, Ragoom spied an open room, shored up by pillars. In its center was a wasted, molting tengu woman, screeching to herself and the air around her in tengal. At her feet was a dried corpse wearing old armour, apparently being prepared for reanimation; off to the side of her were more bodies awaiting undeath. Before he could see any more, the tengu woman spotted him and in a frenzy lept upon the cleric, dragging her bird-like nails repeatedly over his face. As she did, a spell was cast, aging Ragoom by about 20 years. Ragoom managed to knock her back from the doorway, allowing Raito to rush in and,with a deadly lunge, run her through. Bleeding heavily, the bird-woman passed unconscious; Ragoom, despite his condition, stabilized her wounds and bound her tightly. As the others looked through the room, they found it contained only one other thing besides the corpses and the tengu: a huge pile of small, assorted gems and jewels, that apparently the tengu had not only been using for spell components, but also as a sort of nest. Caelan, searching very carefully, managed to find a small hidden panel in the wall. Opening it, Ragoom crawled through; at its other end was a small round room, perfectly filled by the red, angry lines of a second enchantment circle. As Raito stuffed everyones' pockets with precious stones, they discussed what to do next. Going outside, they called over Sissel, and Caelen implored him to take a look at the enchantment. While he did venture down, Sissel had no particular insight; while even he could say it looked demonic in nature, he claimed to be no wizard, and had no relevant knowledge. The group then turned their attention back towards the unconscious woman, and debated what they should do with her. Ragoom was hesitant to end her life, especially if she perhaps had knowledge they could use, while Raito saw no particular need to keep her alive, owing to the fact that she seemed rather insane. Sissel confirmed this, in that she had apparently started living in this cave a few months ago and had been raving and creating undead the whole time. When they could not make up their minds, Raito asked Sissel for the reward he had been promised; the desert man pointed that they hadn't actually dealt with the problem yet. Taking that as a good enough reason as any, Caelan took his knife and ended the tengu's life. On the moment of her death, the enchantment in the adjacent room flashed with a bright and angry light; the group hurried as quickly as they could out of the cave, and never looked back. Once outside, Sissel said that he would give them something, but it could only go to one of them. After some indecision, Raito agreed to take it. Taking some tools out of his sleeve, Sissel proceeded to tattoo a small black design into Raito's inner forearm. When it was finished, Raito asked what it was; the man replied, apparently barely restraining his laughter, that it meant that the Yetoman was now a higher rank than the wayward Yomiel. Raito, considering the meaning of this, sincerely thanked him in the best way he knew how. With a friendly farewell to Sissel, the group, their task accomplished, began their journey out of the desert. Category:Banishment of the Blackblades